The Dream Demon
by elainefelicity
Summary: A mysterious spell is cast that spells bad things for Damon and Stefan but that's just the beginning. A new kind of demon infiltrates the mind and leaves one Mystic Falls native fighting for life.
1. Chapter 1

Damon sipped wine in the Covent Garden Piazza. Tourists frittered their money. Locals dined and bustled around. The place was civilised. He'd been away from Mystic Falls for three years, almost to the day in fact. His new life in London had reignited a freedom he hadn't felt since way before he'd reunited with Stefan. Way before he had met the fair Elena. Some deep part inside him loved them both fiercely but he'd lost himself along the way. He credited Elena and Stefan with recapturing his lost humanity. However, the time had come for some breathing space. Peace had finally arrived in his hometown. The time had been right.

The woman he'd been waiting for was twenty minutes late but that wasn't unusual. Alyssa knew only his name, nothing of his nature, just the way he like it. Damon had picked her up in a Soho bar and couldn't seem to shake her, not for lack of trying. He was beginning to think she was obsessed. Time to cut her loose, he mused.

There were footsteps behind him now. They were close. Too close. Damon realised too late that they didn't belong to Alyssa. She was the only one he'd let in that close a proximity. Whoever lurked in his blind spot were professionals. Nobody ever saw the hypodermic full of Vervain or the swift, skillful way it was injected into his neck. All the regular folk saw was a man who'd had too much wine. They'd given him enough to just about walk. They slung his arms over each of their beefy shoulders and took him away.

* * *

Back in Mystic Falls, Stefan had his own issues. Insomnia hadn't been something that plagued him very often in his abnormally long life. On lonely nights like this he missed Damon. Stefan wandered passed his empty room realising it'd been far too long since he'd seen his older brother. He promised himself he'd call him in the morning.

The clock read four-forty-five and the sky was black and starless. Stefan drew the curtain and shut the night out. He poured himself a drink suddenly wished Elena was with him. She was the warmest person he'd ever known but even she would be irritated if he disturbed her slumber. He huffed, frustrated. He imagined Elena's butterfly delicate kisses and instantly found his inner calm once more. Tomorrow's to-do list seemed to be shaping up nicely. Call brother. Shower girlfriend with love.

Stefan's dull night got way too interesting way too quickly. He'd have taken never ending insomnia over this alternative any night of the week. Said alternate was currently rattling the front door. Someone was trying to pick the lock.

Stefan stood in the hallway braced for a fight. Now he really missed Damon. He badmouthed his brother all the time but he was excellent to have in a fight. The lock clicked, finally giving up its fight. The door gently swung open. Stefan bared his teeth. He'd be ready for whatever walked through it.

Before Stefan even saw who they were his chest exploded from the impact of a bullet. Blood rained on the walls and the wooden floor. He dropped, gasping for breath. He was being grabbed now. They were lifting him up by his arms. He thought his shoulders may dislocated. His chest was burning in pain.

"Its okay, son," an older man's voice said. "We'll take away the pain now."

With that, a wasp-sting prickle stung his neck. Vervain blazed though his system. Then the pain was all gone.

* * *

Positioned on his side, Damon's wrist was cuffed to a bedside. Still full of Vervain, he was out cold. A busy hospital buzzed above him while here in the bowels of the building things were about to happen.

"This is going to hurt tomorrow," one of his captors muttered.

"I know. We'll give him as much analgesic as is necessary. Remember, he's a vampire. His threshold for pain his high and he heals quickly," his companion replied. "We need a large sample for the spell to work, Lorenzo."

The man and woman both wore hospital blues and the room had been 'borrowed' for a whole twelve hours. It would be plenty of time to get what they needed.

"I just don't like inflicting pain," Lorenzo replied. "I'm a doctor."

Dania threw him a glare, "You're a witch too. We owe our Virginia cousins a favour and we will deliver."

Sufficiently told Lorenzo readied his equipment. He hoped the Royal London Hospital wouldn't mind donating some equipment.

Dania reached over to expose Damon's back and jumped back when a finger moved.

"Lorenzo, give him more of the juice. He's waking up." She hated vampires.

Lorenzo did as he was told. A fully conscious vampire, especially one a strong as this one, would not spell good tidings.

With his 'patient' sufficiently under again, Lorenzo got started. He took a spinal needle and positioned it at the base of Damon's spine.

"Do it, Lorenzo, before he wakes up," Dania instructed. "The sooner you start the sooner it'll all be over for all of us. Him included."

Lorenzo passed the needle through flesh, between vertebrae and beyond.

"I think I'm in," Lorenzo muttered to himself.

Dania watched as her companion skillfully drew clear spinal fluid into a syringe. Lorenzo repeated the process so many times that Dania wondered if Damon Salvatore had any CSF left.

Lorenzo withdrew his needle and turned to Dania. He looked like he'd just run a marathon, "Its done," he breathed. "Patient is dead though."

"He's a vampire. He'll live." Dania answered, coldly, "and stop calling him a patient!"

* * *

Stefan awoke in a similar position to Damon, cuffed to a hospital bed. A man was talking on the other side of the darkened room.

"Good news, Dania and Lorenzo got what they needed from the other one." Stefan heard no reply and deduced that he was listening to a phone conversation.

"Yes"," the man laughed. "She said they almost drained him of cerebrospinal fluid. We'll have plenty for the spell to work."

Stefan's powers were waning. In normal circumstances he'd have heard the other end of the man's call. He was so weak. Blood was draining out of him into nice neat little bags.

"The younger one's blood is coming wonderfully. We'll absolutely be ready for tonight,"

They had to be talking about him and Damon but Stefan wasn't caring anymore. One last question swirled in his head before his eyes closed. What the hell were they going to do with blood and spinal fluid?


	2. Chapter 2

The Vervain had slowed Damon's healing ability. Lorenzo crouched down and looked at the vampire's face.

"He was very young when he turned. I wonder what his story is?" His tone spoke of wonderment and lives bigger than his own.

Dania set about packing up the viles of Damon's spinal fluid. With a speedy courier the precious body fluid would be with the coven in a matter of hours. Dania was pleased with herself. However, she was broken out of her self-congratulation by a yelp from Lorenzo. The vampire had her colleague against the wall by the throat, a broken handcuff dangled from his wrist.

"What did you do to me!?" Damon turned his Arctic coloured eyes upon her. A flutter of fear shivered through her. Lorenzo was terrified. In the time it took to blink his neck was broken in audible crunch. He dropped like a bag of bones.

As impressively strong as Damon was though, he was swaying in the breeze. He'd used too much speed and power too early. He wasn't in fighting shape. Justice, Dania thought. She'd heard, on the grapevine, that Damon Salvatore was cocky. What made him so important to the coven was beyond her comprehension.

"You've overexerted yourself, haven't you Damon? She sounded like she was talking to a child, "you're head's throbbing, isn't it?"

His reflexes were slow. Dania was mindful that she couldn't kill this vampire but she could certainly put him down. She picked up a stool, swung wide and took Damon by surprise. His reflexes were really sluggish. She swung again, putting him down for good. The vampire had overstayed his welcome. Time for him to be someone else's problem. Dania grabbed her things and swiftly exited the building.

* * *

They threw Stefan onto Elena and Jeremy's front porch. He landed with a thump and felt nothing of it. Like his brother, thousands of miles away, he was in unconscious oblivion. It was Jeremy who opened the front door. He called his sister's name loudly while dragging Stefan inside.

Elena raced down the staircase at a rate of knots. She slid down the last two steps painfully wrenching her ankle.

"What happened?" she shrieked, sinking to her knees beside Stefan.

"I don't know. I just opened the door to get the mail and found him laying there," he replied.

Stefan needed blood and lots of it. Elena dashed into the kitchen and grabbed a knife. Stefan unconsciously drank from her wrist until her head was swimming with blood loss. Jeremy repeated the process and eventually Stefan returned to them, fully conscious.

"I don't know who they were. I've never seen them. They came into the house and got the drop on me pretty quick," Stefan told them. "I think they drained nearly all my blood."

"You heard nothing else? That was it?" Jeremy said from the opposite side of the kitchen table. Elena lovingly massaged Stefan's shoulders. He searched his foggy memory of the surreal night. Something surfaced.

"Spinal fluid!"

"What?" Elena stopped kneading his muscles and sat beside him. She supportively placed her hand on his knee and squeezed.

"I heard a phone call just before I passed out. They were talking about draining someone's cerebrospinal fluid and kept on about a spell."

Jeremy's face crumpled in disgust, "that's sick."

"Who would do that?"

"I don't know but we're talking about something powerful here. We should call Bonnie and see if she's heard anything."

His suggestion stayed unanswered. He and whoever the spinal fluid belonged to were part of something. Concern had silenced everyone.

* * *

Damon awakened, face down, on the hard, unfinished floor tiles. He had no idea how long he'd been laying there but judging by how his bones ached it must've been a long time. He groaned as he hauled himself up. He could hear no heart beats, no living people to sap the life out of. He'd have to settle for the dead man at his feet. Lorenzo was still warm which meant his blood wouldn't taste too stale. Damon sunk his teeth in. He drank his fill feeling like he'd descended into desperation. Feeding from a dead man was like a bankrupt millionaire begging in the street. Damon was angry. He would make whoever did this pay... right after he figured out their reasons why.

* * *

Later that evening Damon was disturbed by a rap on the front door of his home.

"Well hello, Mr blue eyes." Alyssa barely gave Damon a chance to open the door before flinging her arms around her neck.

It took all of his self restraint not to sink his teeth into the fleshy part of her neck. That would certainly keep her away.

"I love your place. Its so much tidier than mine," she said falling into the soft white leather sofa.

Damon made no reply. He simply stood and watched the Thames through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Without him noticing, Alyssa poured them both a glass of wine.

"Tell me what's on your mind, babe." She pressed the glass into his hand and stared into his now distant blue eyes.

What Damon couldn't tell her was that he had the all too familiar feeling that something was on the horizon. Something horrible.

"Bad day at the office," he lied.

With that, Alyssa started peppering his neck with kisses. Damon stroked her flame-red hair and began to finally relax. She led him by the arm to the sofa. He let her push him backwards and straddle his lap. She continued her tirade of warm kisses. Alyssa's slender fingers ran south down his back. Perhaps she wasn't so bad after all.

* * *

Matt could hear the rain outside lashing down. It meant one of two things. The grill was either going to be doing a roaring trade or the place would be practically empty. On this particular occasion the place was deadly silent.

Matt finished wiping the bar clean for the hundredth time and took a heavy sigh of boredom. As soon as his eyes clapped sight of the man sitting in the corner booth his hackles went up. He knew a witch when he saw one. One didn't spend their entire life in Mystic Falls without catching scent of something decidedly mystic. Human he may be but he'd learnt to trust his hunches.

"You're staring, boy." There was too much white showing in the man's eyes.

"I'm sorry, sir. We don't get newcomers very often. Welcome to Mystic Falls."

The man obligingly accepted Matt's false welcome but started to stand up. He was clearly rattled. He placed a hat on his head and headed for the door, tipping Matt a polite nod on the way out.

* * *

Joseph left the small-town bar calmly despite the horrid weather. His mobile phone buzzed in his pocket. It must be them. Things must nearly be ready. Once in the shelter of his car he answered the text. As he sat there he had no doubt in his mind that the boy in the bar was watching him from the window. He didn't mind. Humans like him would eventually be thankful to him for what he was about to accomplish. Joseph checked the bag on the back seat. Bottles and bottles of blood and spinal fluid almost came spilling out. Perfect. They needed plenty for the spell. Satisfied, Joseph pulled away.

As expected the coven had congregated at the ruins of the original Salvatore house. The childhood home of the vampire brothers. This was the perfect place. Memories and times long passed were infused in the fabric of the place. They could not have picked a better spot to do the spell. Joseph stopped in front of the coven and opened his arms.

"Shall we start?"


	3. Chapter 3

It looked like a beautiful day in London. The sunshine poured through the huge windows. Damon woke up to feel Alyssa hands pawing at him. His body was aching and he swatted Alyssa away irritably.

"You're shivering, baby," she said.

Damon sat bolt upright. He was a vampire, he didn't shiver. He didn't ache either. Alyssa looked up at him, doe eyed as usual. The blood pulsing through her arteries was overwhelmingly loud.

"You have to leave," he told her.

"Oh charming," she chuckled.

He headed into the bathroom. He had to get away from her.

"What's wrong with you? You not feeling well or something?" she called.

Damon splashed refreshingly cold water on his face hoping it would making him feel more himself. When he didn't answer, Alyssa started knocking incessantly. Each little noise drilled into his skull. Damon threw the door open, almost taking it off its hinges.

"I said leave!" he snarled.

Alyssa's face turned to pure contempt, "I thought you were different. I didn't think you'd be the type to sleep with me the drop me like a hot brick."

Damon didn't have time for her. He covered his ears with his hands like a child frightened of a loud noise.

"Get out. Now. You were a plaything and nothing more."

He was definitely shaking now, no question about it. Alyssa had exploded in a fit of rage-filled tears. Her hand connected with his face with a stinging impact. With that, she slammed the door in a chorus of curses and swear-words.

Grabbing the basin to hold himself upright he looked at the dark shadows under his eyes. His face glistened with sweat. Finally his knees gave out and his stomach regurgitated everything he'd eaten in the last twenty-four hours. He landed on the flood with a painful splat. Getting up again was a challenge he wasn't ready to face yet. So there he stayed, on his tiled bathroom floor, surrounded by his own vomit.

* * *

As Damon lay suffering, his phone started to buzz. From miles away, across the ocean, Elena dialled for the umpteenth time. She hadn't wanted to inform Damon that Stefan was dying from a mystery illness in a text message. She let the wind ruffle her hair and let out a sigh of frustration. Stefan had gotten rapidly sick in the early hours. If she didn't know better she'd have thought he'd tangled with a werewolf. However, there wasn't a scratch on him. Not for the first time, she found herself resenting the elder Salvatore. If he hadn't have left, Stefan would most likely be fine now.

Elena heard shuffling behind her. She turned to see Stefan joining her on the porch.

"You should be inside," she said rushing to steady him.

"I needed fresh air, Elena."

Stefan looked deathly, even for a vampire. His eyes were accompanied by great black rings and he could barely support his own weight. She eased him down onto the porch steps and sat beside him. That was when Matt's truck came roaring down the road and skidded to a halt outside the Gilbert house. Elena rushed to Matt swiftly as a gazelle, while Stefan hauled himself to his feet.

"Matt, you're covered in mud. Did you sleep in the woods all night!?" Stefan joked.

"Stefan, I think I know why you're getting sick. Or at least I know how." Matt's face was a picture of seriousness as he told them how he'd followed a mysterious man into the woods. If the strange coven knew he was there they never showed a sign of it. He'd sat in the cold and the wet while they performed their, no doubt, nefarious spell.

"They had bottles and bottles of your blood and some other body fluid from someone else. The rest of the spell was in Latin so I don't actually know what was being said. It can't be good though right?"

Elena felt a cold kick of panic strike her. She aas about to reply but Stefan finally lost the battle to remain upright. The vampire crumpled, landing on the floor with a thud.

* * *

Caroline sounded as sunny as always when she answered the call. Elena was simultaneously disappointed and relieved. Relieved that her best friend was fit and well. Disappointed because whatever was happening to Stefan, he was enduring alone. The thought had crossed her mind that, once again, the vampires of Mystic Falls were being targeted but either they'd missed Caroline or it was just Stefan being targeted.

Stefan muttered something in his fitful sleep. Between her and Matt they had taken him back to his own house. His own room. His own bed.

"What can I do to help?" Caroline asked down the phone.

"Work with Bonnie. She's trying to find the person Matt followed last night."

"I'll call her right now. Elena?"

She wiped a tear from her eye."Yeah."

"Have you contacted Damon?"

Elena told her how Stefan's brother had gone off the grid in a time of crisis. She was about to go on a rant about Damon's selfishness when Caroline stopped her.

"Not to stick up for Damon here because I'd never do that. I mean, eww, its Damon," Caroline babbled. "But what if the same thing's happening to him? Think about it Elena. Matt said the spell was done on the ground of Stefan's childhood home. Damon grew up there too, right? Now all of a sudden no one can reach him?!"

Elena sank down onto Stefan's bed and grabbed his hand.

"Oh my God, Caroline you're right. I can't believe I didn't think of it myself."

"You're all strung out with worry. Don't beat yourself up."

Then Elena had a disturbing thought. Damon was in London. Whoever was trying to hurt the brothers had a vast reach. Elena put the phone down and suddenly realised the beauty of living in ignorance. It was so much easier being angry at Damon, now he was just someone else to worry about.

* * *

Alyssa pressed her head against Damon's door. The whole day had passed and was slowly turning to late night.

"Damon, open the door." She tapped again, "I hate the way we left things this morning."

This was the moment she wished she'd convinced Damon to give her a key to his place. She thumped her fist against the door in frustration.

"Damon, I'm worried. Please, just let me know you're okay."

Damon felt like he had an abdomen full of needles that were trying to escape. He hadn't managed to get very far out of the bathroom much to his dismay. He was both hungry and sick at the same time. Alyssa's voice reached his ears. He needed help but she wasn't the one to give it. Ignoring her he went to his phone and saw Elena's text messages. Alyssa was still incessantly banging on the door, chattering away. The messages alarmed him. Something was wrong with Stefan too. His head started to spin with the exertion of standing up. After hitting the send button it all got too much and he fell. His head struck the coffee table and a lamp clattered to the floor. Alyssa went crazy with worry behind the closed door. All was not lost, however. A text was winging its way across the Atlantic.

"I'm sick 2. Nd help. D"


End file.
